


Arsonist's Lullaby

by BlueMoonHound



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I hurt Ango real bad, Major Character Injury, Memory Alteration, relic thrall, the phoenix fire gauntlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 09:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13737939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMoonHound/pseuds/BlueMoonHound
Summary: Of anyone who could have ended up finding the glove, Taako wishes that it hadn't been ababy. His eyes are on fire. His eyes are quite literallyfireballs.





	Arsonist's Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> I did a big hurt on ango mcdango in this fic and im sorry

The kid is quite literally on fire, and Taako's not sure whether he wants to deal with that. Or think about it. Or do anything beyond semi-casually observing the fact that it is happening. A little half-elf kid. The glove falls down past his elbow.

They've backed the poor kid into a corner. Taako doesn't have a good feeling about this, but he's not a socialite. He's fucking terrible at talking.

Of anyone who could have ended up finding the glove, Taako wishes that it hadn't been a _baby_. His eyes are on fire. His eyes are quite literally _fireballs_.

Magnus kneels down in front of him. “Come on, this isn't you.”

“You – you don't know me!”

“I mean, we've been travelling together for a little while, I know you're not an angry ball of fire, Ango--”

“Maybe this is who I am now!” Angus snarls, pushing Magnus away with two hands. Magnus winces in pain. The fire burns a little brighter. “I can – I can do this!! I can do this, leave me alone!!”

“Angus, you're literally on fire-”

“Stop patronizing me!!” The fire brightens again, and Taako yanks Magnus back away from the kid. Nope, nope, nope.

“Give him some space, Maggie,” Taako hisses.

“What are we gonna --”

“Hold on, I h- know kids, let me try,” Merle says, taking a step towards Angus.

Angus takes a step towards the wall, running into it. He chars the surface immediately.

“Hey- hey, that thing's controlling you, do you want that?”

“It's-- It's mine-”

“Angus, I'm not going to take it away from you. Okay? Hey. Hey, if we can get everything under control here we can go get hot chocolate. How's that sound?”

“Stop fucking patronizing me --”

“No, no, I like hot chocolate too, Angus! It's, well, I figure it's kinda late for coffee.”

Angus bares his teeth.

“Hey Angus, can I ask you a question?”

“ _What_.”

“Did you want to kill all those people back there?”

“Oh – oh god, I killed people,” Angus says, his ears flicking back and oh no, that's adorable. Taako chews his lip.

“Yeah, but we can keep it from happening again, right? We can sit down, and you can take it off and we can talk about this. You don't have to give it to us, yeah? Just, take it off. So it's not burning you up.”

“I don't know if I – I don't think I can take it off, sir.”

“You're real smart, Angus, I'm sure you can figure this one out.”

“I'm not sure that's how it works,” Angus whines.

“You're real smart. You're so much smarter than me, and you're not even a twentieth of my age! That's pretty amazing, kiddo.”

“I'm scared,” Angus admits.

“That's okay!”

“I was on fire,” Angus looks like he would be crying if he wasn't so hot that water evaporates off his skin before even touching it. “I was so angry, that-- that hurt.”

“Yeah, I bet it did. Maybe we can avoid the big flaming fireball thing?”

“It hurt a lot,” Angus chokes.

“Hey. Why don't you take a deep breath, and then take it off?”

Angus hiccups, then takes a deep, shuddering breath. “Oh wow,” he sighs. “I'm, I'm pretty tired, sirs. I've been doing a lot of running, huh?” The fire clears out of his eyes, off his skin, slowly subsiding until it's contained by the glove again. His clothes are holey and charred. His hair is just entirely gone, and Taako winces in sympathy-- Angus had nice hair. He hopes it'll grow back, because that would just suck. He slumps down against the wall and sits on the road. “I think I'm, uh, yeah. I think I'm done.”

Angus takes the glove in his other hand and yanks it off. It clunks to the ground – it sounds a lot heavier than it looks. His head thumps back against the wall. Taako takes a step forward as Angus's eyes close and snatches the glove away.

“Well then,” he says, looking it over. “Weeeeeeeeelll.”

He puts it in his pack, then scoops down to pick up the kid. He's so light in Taako's arms. Whoever was taking care of him before they ran into each other on the road wasn't doing the best job. Not that Taako's particularly well fed either, but at least he's an adult elf who chooses his own grave. Angus can't be older than ten, which is painfully young even for a half-elf.

“He's shivering,” Taako comments.

“Oh shit, I have an extra blanket in here somewhere,” Magnus flips his pack off his back and riffles around till he finds a blanket. He gives it to Taako, who squats down on the ground and wraps Angus up in it.

“You know what though? I don't wanna carry the kid. My arms'll get tired.”

Magnus takes Angus from Taako's arms without question. His arms were already getting tired, but he doesn't see a reason to admit that.

“Holy _shit.”_

“Hmm?” Taako swings around. Killian is running towards them.

“Did you just talk someone out of using – holy _shit_.” She stops a few feet away. “You guys _have_ to come with me. I mean, you'd have to anyway, you have the- the glove, but – no, my boss is going to _love_ you guys.”

“We haven't even met this guy and we're already in their good books, huh.”

“You just talked a ~~relic user~~ out of using a ~~relic~~ , I don't know what to tell you, you're fucking impossible.”

“I'll ignore the static and take that as a compliment,” Merle says.

“Come on, let's get out of town before someone asks questions.” Killian walks through them and heads down the street.

“Should we?” Magnus asks.

“I mean, if nothing else, I'm curious,” Taako says.

Magnus starts following Killian. Merle shrugs, and walks after him, Taako at his side.

“So what does your bracer do?” Taako asks, catching up with Killian.

“It summons transport.”

“Really.”

“Yeah.”

“That's alllllll it does?”

“Yeah, that's all it does. Well, I mean, there's more it could be used for. For example, it is round, made of metal, and attached to my arm. I could knock you out with this.”

Taako laughs. “I mean, fair. What's your boss like?”

“She's formidable.”

Taako admires the architecture for a little while.

They reach the middle of a field. It's rather middle-of-nowhere, not visible from town. Killian presses a button on her bracer.

“How can we be sure you didn't drag us out here to murder us?” Merle asks.

“You can't,” Killian says. “But I'm not gonna murder you.”

“Reassuring,” Magnus mutters.

An orb descends from the sky. Killian opens it up – there's only four seats inside.

“Should we leave the kid behind?” Taako asks. If he's being completely honest with himself, he doesn't want to leave the kid behind, but he doesn't want to sacrifice his aloof reputation.

“No, I'll just put him in my lap,” Magnus says.

“We should leave him behind,” Merle says. He's climbing into the bubble. Killian is buckled in already. Taako huffs and pushes hair out of his face.

“Nah, if Maggie's got him, then whatever.”

“Okay, but if he does that again, don't come running to me.”

“Does what now?”

“Goes beserk and kills a buncha folks?”

“Oh come on, I have the gauntlet.”

“Yeah, and you're probably _weaker_ than him.”

“Dunno about that one, old man.”

“He needs healing,” Killian says. “We're taking him with us. We can't explain what happened to him to anyone planetside.” She pulls a lever, and then they're flying.

 

Someone's talking. Low voices filter into Angus's consciousness, chasing around his head. He can't tell what they're saying, but he's got a rather terrible headache. The ground beneath him rocks and rattles a little. Shifts. That's an arm. There's an arm around him. He's not sure whose, but…

What was he doing? Oh yeah, the – the – it was – that thing. Fire. He feels like someone charred his bones. He can feel burns under his fingernails. His body aches from it. He might as well have burnt his soul. Oh gods, what if that thing _did_ burn his soul? What is he supposed to do _then?_ He shifts a little, and the pain intensifies in a way he really doesn't like.

Angus whimpers before he can stop himself. The conversation happening above him halts.

“Ango? You awake?” Magnus's voice is directly above him – that must be who's holding him. At least he's still with the boys. He can faintly hear the glove, too, but it's muffled enough for him to deal. He shudders.

“Yes, sir,” He mumbles. He doesn't open his eyes. He gets the feeling that opening his eyes would be a very big mistake.

“How ya feelin, Bubellah?” Taako says, somewhere to Magnus's right. Angus shifts a little to bury his face deeper into Magnus's arm, and ends up pushing his ear in the wrong direction. It stings so bad that he has to grapple with consciousness for a moment.

“Like shit, sir,” he says, his voice raspy and disgusting. “I- I, I did a bad thing.” Angus hiccups. The tears beading at the corners of his eyes feel surprisingly good. They leave cool trails down his burned cheeks. Angus sobs into Magnus's armored chest till he falls back asleep again.

 

The next time Angus wakes up, he can tell he's being carried. He hears someone above him say “Wait here.”

He doesn't think he would have the strength to go anywhere and isn't sure how to address the command, until Magnus says “Okay.” His voice rumbles through his chest. Angus has his cheek and ear pressed against Magnus's armor still, and he can feel the vibration. He's very, very dizzy.

Taako's saying something about go-gurt. There's a flask at his lips. He opens his mouth and accepts whatever beverage is being offered, hoping that it's water. It turns out to very much not be water. He splutters. It burns going down, but after a moment, the vertigo he had been feeling starts to clear away. He settles his head back against Magnus's arm with a sigh.

“Do you have water?” he croaks.

“Oh shit,” Magnus says. “Hey Merle, do you still have that water skin?”

“Yeah. Here.” Merle hurls something at Magnus, and then Magnus shifts around for a bit and there's another mouthpiece at his lips. This time, the liquid is definitely water, clear spring water. Oh yeah, they did stop at a spring in Wave Echo Cave. He drinks til he's not thirsty anymore.

“I assume we'll have an opportunity to restock our supplies if we're kicked out, yeah?”

“You guys aren't gonna be kicked out. You collected a ~~grand relic~~!”

“We know so much about the Krrruchshshsh!” Taako exclaims. There's a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Hey- you guys are good to go,” says another voice. That's Killian. He's being carried again. There's… another voice. Angus wants to cover his ears, because the whole world is very overwhelming right now.

Music is playing, all of a sudden, and it's the most wonderful music Angus has ever heard. He can feel Magnus sobbing. Angus sighs and drifts in the sound till the music stops.

They're moving again. Talking again. Then someone's setting him down. “Hey, Ango, can you sit up on your own?”

“I don't know, Sir, but I can try,” Angus says. He puts both his hands on the surface he's sitting on and the hand supporting him goes away. Well, he is sitting up on his own, but the world is doing circles around him, too. There's something big and foggy in a tank in front of him. The man who he presumes had been playing that really pretty music – he's dressed like a bard – hands him a flask full of dark stuff.

Magnus drinks, and Angus follows suit because if Magnus does it, surely he can.

He can see the jellyfish now. Interesting. And-- Oh. Phoenix fire gauntlet. Wow. Angus giggles and drops the glass, which shatters on the ground. “Wow, I really fucked up, didn't I, sirs?”

“Hey, hey,” Magnus's thumbs are on his cheeks. “Hey, don't cry, it's okay. You're just a kid. You can't be perfect every time.”

“I could have killed you,” Angus says, the weight of what he's done crashing into him and suffocating him. “I could have killed you.” He leans into Magnus's chest.

“Hold on, I should have done this earlier,” Merle says, and a hand touches Angus's head. He feels a little healing chase away some of the pain in his skin and bones.

“Thank you, Sir,” Angus mumbles. He gets to his feet, sways a little but manages to stay standing. He still feels like he's going to become dust at any minute, but it's a more manageable feeling now. He lets the conversation wash over him again. He should really be paying attention. He's a detective. He doesn't have the energy.

They get back in the elevator at some point. They do some walking. Angus's feet feel like lead. Then, he hears a voice that sounds like _home_.

“Welcome, the four of you, to the Bureau of Balance.”

Angus gasps and peers out from behind Magnus. A tall, older woman is standing on the dais in front of him, face passive.

She continues talking. “It’s a pleasure to have you. I’ve heard a lot of great things about your performance from Killian. Before we go any further I’m going to need you to hand over the gauntlet so we can destroy it promptly.”

The boys stand silent for a moment.

“But it's our gauntlet,” Magnus says.

“Magnus...” Angus tugs at Magnus's leg.

“Oh yeah.”

“Will we get, ah, paid?” Merle asks. “You see, that's kinda the business we're in.”

“Oh, you will be paid. You will be paid very, very handsomely.” She smiles. “And I'll get a healer for Angus, unless you want to--?” She looks at Merle.

“Oh, no, I'm good.”

“That’s the kind of thing people say if by 'paying us' they’re gonna kill us,” Taako mumbles.

“No, that’s not how the Bureau operates. Give me a moment.” She turns and claps her hands. “Davenport! Davenport!”

A gnome in a very nice outfit comes walking out of a backroom.

“Pay the men, Davenport. Pay the men their money, for a good day’s work.” She pauses. “Well, it was more like a ten day, but it was a lot of days. Go ahead and give them their payment. And then, if you wouldn't fetch a healer?”

“Right away,” Davenport says. He produces a coin purse, which Magnus takes. Then, he turns and leaves the room. Angus sits down on the floor, still leaning against Magnus's leg.

“And excuse me, madam, what is your name?”

“That’s actually classified, but--”

“Then how should we address you?”

“The Director is fine.”

“Uh… Director--”

“Or Madam Director, is fine, also.”

“Madam- Madam Director--”

“Lady Director.”

“Shut up.”

“Nope.”

“I’m happy to destroy the gauntlet. I would like to be present while it is destroyed, so I can confirm--”

“Oh, yes, I imagine you would. It’ll be quite spectacular.”

They start talking about stuff that Angus doesn't really understand, and he lets himself drift off. He's not quite asleep, and someone does come in at some point and take him aside for healing. He follows them through the base and to a small infirmary, where he sits down on a bed and lets the clerics work. There's still a residual ache in his whole body even after extensive treatment. He drinks tea when it's offered, then curls up underneath the sheets on the bed and lets himself sleep for real.

Angus is still achy when he wakes up later, but he's feeling so much better. He almost cries, because that means that his bad choices the other day might not have a permanent negative effect on him. He'd been expecting some serious consequences, but things seem okay.  
“Good morning, Angus,” That warm, homey voice from before says. He opens his (still aching) eyes and stares around till he sees the Director, sitting at his bedside. She's sketching in a small notebook.

“Oh, uh, h-hello, Ma'am,” Angus says. “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to ask you about your experiences with the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. How exactly did the boys talk you into taking it off? What was it like to be under its thrall?”

“I was angry,” Angus says. “I don't remember. But. Merle said some things that. Made a lot of sense, I guess. And I was tired. And I took it off. I don't know, I'm sorry Ma'am.” He sighs. "Merle promised me hot chocolate, I think."

“It's perfectly alright.”

She goes back to drawing. Angus continues staring at the ceiling.

“Where are my glasses?”

“Right here.” the Director holds them up. “You can call me Lucretia. I'll get you a dorm, and a bracer. Take some time to rest, okay? Your health is important.”

“Isn't your name classified?”

“Don't call me Lucretia unless we're alone, because yes, it is, but," She shrugs. "I don't know. I wanted you to know.”

Angus pushes himself into a sitting position and puts his glasses on. The lenses are a little melted, but he can still see better through them than without them. “Why do you care so much about me? There's not much I can do for the bureau, and you're making the boys do a whole, thing right? Uh, an initiation thing?”

“You're the world's greatest detective, Angus,” Lucretia says. “Of course there's a lot you can do for the Bureau.” She sighs. “Besides, you're a ten year old boy who got mixed up in a whole bunch of things that you shouldn't have had to get mixed up in. I want you to be able to lead a happy life, and this is the best way I know how.”

“Oh, uh, thank you, Ma'a-- Lucretia,” Angus says. “I'll do my best to help.”

“That's all I can ask.”

Lucretia holds up her journal and shows him the picture inside. It's a sketch of him and Taako.

“We look really similar, don't we?” Angus says, running a finger along the line of Taako's jaw, carefully, as not to smudge the graphite.

“Yes, you do.” She tears out the page and gives it to Angus. “He's a pretty average looking sun elf, so it's no great surprise.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to go watch the boys fight ogres?” Lucretia asks.

“Oh boy! Yes I do!” Angus sits up very fast, and gives himself a dizzy spell. “Oh god,” he says, putting a hand against his head. “I miss my hair.”

“It will grow back,” Lucretia says.

“You know?”

“I'm pretty sure. My healers have skill.” She offers him a hand, and he takes it. He feels like he might have just acquired a mother figure for the first time.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank to Tazscripts on tumblr for the Ability to just go read Taz in text format and generally figure out what exactly people were saying at any given point.
> 
> Kudos and comments feed the flames. (ha.)


End file.
